New Visions for Public Schools Awarded $12.9 Million i3 Grant

Accessing Algebra Through Inquiry--A(2)I--to reach 30 high-needs schools in NYC

New Visions for Public Schools is one of 23 finalists for a U.S. Department of Education (ED) Investing in Innovation (i3) grant. Selected from nearly 600 applicants, New Visions is eligible to receive $12.9 million over five years to implement Accessing Algebra Through Inquiry, A(2)I, an innovation which improves teachers' instruction in algebra and geometry through the use of well-designed student assessments.

"New Visions is always looking to drive lasting change and develop scalable, data-driven, real-world solutions to be shared across public school districts. The i3 grant helps us take a big step in continuing that mission," said Robert Hughes, New Visions' president. "We're confident A(2)I will improve the way teachers teach and students learn core concepts in high school math. The opportunity to test the validity of this approach has tremendous implications on student achievement, both locally and nationally."

Created in partnership with the Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative (SVMI) and the New York City Department of Education, and using materials developed by SVMI and the Mathematics Design Collaborative, A(2)I fulfills ED's priority of finding research-based innovations that complement the implementation of high standards and high quality assessments. The program is aligned with the Common Core State Standards in mathematics, which New York State currently mandates and will require of all state assessments beginning in 2014.

At the heart of the approach is a teacher's use of "formative assessments," diagnostic assignments given to students during a curricular unit to gauge their proficiency with the material. Instead of grading the assessment, the teacher provides feedback and poses questions in order to facilitate student learning. The assessments inform subsequent classroom lessons and allow for better individualized instruction, as teachers identify student misconceptions and strategize ways to address them. Through a teacher inquiry process developed by New Visions, teachers work collaboratively to design interventions based on the rich descriptive data the assessments give them on the quality of student learning.

Teachers who have participated in a related New Visions pilot study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have found the formative assessments invaluable, particularly for engaging students in the learning process.

"For five years, I have taught freshmen or sophomores who come into our school from middle school with various levels of math education," said Corey Fink, a math teacher at High School for Telecommunication Arts and Technology in Brooklyn. "The formative assessments allow my students to understand their own progress over the course of a lesson, or even an entire unit. In my mind, this is a much more powerful tool than handing students back a test or quiz grade that is not being compared to their previous knowledge of the topic."

The pilot, which currently reaches more than 3,200 students in 14 New York City secondary schools, will be scaled up to reach more than 65,000 students over five years in high-needs schools. New Visions hopes for this groundbreaking program to lead to improved teacher practice and student learning outcomes and, through the development of an A(2)I resource and dissemination center, to assist in the successful implementation of the Common Core mathematics standards both in New York State and nationally.

"American students, particularly adolescents, continue to struggle when it comes to developing critical math skills and understanding," said Russell West, math instruction specialist at New Visions. "We're making a simple but critical shift from 'what's being taught?' to 'what's being learned?' in an effort to improve learning outcomes."

New Visions received the largest i3 grant of any New York City-based organization in this round of funding and received the highest score (97) of the five grantees in the validation category, which is reserved for innovations that are backed by moderate levels of research. In order to receive the federal i3 grant, New Visions must secure a 10 percent match from private sources by Dec. 9, 2011.